Traditionally, cleaning or vacuuming the interior of a vehicle required the use of exterior household vacuum cleaners and related attachments, or alternatively, the use of fixed vacuum systems typically installed outside of commercial car washes. Such traditional methods have several drawbacks. For example, household vacuum cleaners generally required that the cleaning operation occur near a source of AC electrical power, such as within a garage or near a residence. Additionally, use of household vacuum cleaners requires that the vacuum cleaner be moved around the vehicle to access different compartments within the vehicle. Use of vacuum systems at commercial carwashes present several inconveniences for users, such as having to travel to a separate location to clean the vehicle, and use of coin-operated, time-limited vacuum systems.
More recently, vehicle vacuum cleaning systems have been developed for dedicated use within a vehicle. While such vehicle vacuum cleaning systems may provide advantages over more traditional methods of cleaning vehicles, improvements are still needed in existing vehicle vacuum cleaning systems. For example, at least some known vehicle vacuum cleaning systems occupy an undesirable amount of space within the vehicle, and/or are located at locations within the vehicle that make operation of the vacuum cleaning system burdensome or inconvenient. Moreover, at least some known vehicle vacuum cleaning systems require extensive vehicle modifications to accommodate such vacuum cleaning systems. These modifications increase the cost, time, and complexity associated with installation of vehicle vacuum cleaning systems.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved vehicle vacuum cleaning systems that facilitate ease of installation, more convenient operation, and reducing or minimizing the amount of interior space occupied by the vehicle vacuum cleaning system.
This Background section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.